Into The Breach
by Mamoo
Summary: A scientific exploration mission into the depths of the unknown, accompanied by a military escort, goes tragically awry, leaving two confused and weary commandos stranded in a strange world.
1. Chapter 1

_Mission Report: _

_Mission Codename: Operation Equestria_

_Mission Status: Preparing For Launch_

_Mission Launch: 18th May, 2030_

_Mission Duration: One Week Minimum, One Year Maximum_

_Mission Category: Exploratory/Scientific, Military Capactiy_

_Mission Assigned To: Royal Marine Commandos 42nd Regiment_

_Mission Personnel:_

_Military:_

_Callsign: Ragnarok _

_Cpt. Micheal R. Powers, Callsign: Ragnarok Actual_

_Lt. Andrew F. Gorbetts, Callsign: Ragnarok One_

_Lnc. Cpl. James L. Minnows, Callsign: Ragnarok Two_

_Pvt. Ryan A. Mann, Callsign: Ragnarok Three_

_Dr. Frederick H. McAlley, Callsign: Valkyrie_

_Dr. Vladimir F. Zoyersky, Callsign: Valhalla_

_Mission Resources:_

_One (1) Weston Class Twin Rotor Aerial Transport (TRAT)_

_One (1) TRATBased Surface Exploration Vehicle (SEV)_

_One (1) TRAT Mounted Interdimensional Transport Module (ITM)_

_Three (3) Heckler & Koch SA-106 Assault Rifles, 4x Optic Scopes_

_One (1) Heckler & Koch HK-454 Designated Marksman Rifle, 8x Optic Scope, Barrel Mounted Silencer_

_Six (6) Colt Model 2016 Sidearms_

_Four (4) KA-Bar Combat Knives_

_Eighteen (18) 30 Round Magazines, SA-106, NATO 5.56x45 Caliber_

_Three (3) 30 Round Magazines, SA-106, NATO 5.56x45 Caliber, Armour Piercing_

_Two (2) 10 Round Magazines, HK-454, NATO 5.56x45 Caliber_

_One (1) 10 Round Magazine, HK-454, NATO 5.56x45 Caliber, Armour Piercing_

_One (1) 10 Round Magazine, HK-454, NATO 5.56x45 Caliber, Hollow Point_

_Eighteen (18) 9 Round Magazines, Colt M2016, .45 Caliber_

_One (1) Geiger Counter_

_Two (2) Hazard Protection Bodysuits, Black Design_

_Three (3) Combat Suits, Gasmask Integrated, Black Design_

_One (1) Combat Suit, Gasmask Integrated, Forest Camouflage Design _

_One (1) Self-Erecting Secure Bunker_

_Mission Objectives:_

_Travel to new dimension via use of the Interdimensional Transport Module_

_Report to HQ upon successful travel, failure to do so will conclude the mission as failure_

_Gain foothold of arrival destination_

_Explore surrounding area, reports to be made to HQ hourly_

_Conduct scientific experiments, duration ranges from one minute minimum to one week minimum_

_Return to HQ via use of the Interdimensional Transport Module_

_...Confirm Mission Launch?_

_...Y/N_

_Y_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_...Mission Launch Confirmed_

_Log Out_

_...Logging Out: Major O'Brien_


	2. Chapter 2

_...Callsign Ragnarok._

_...18th May, 2030._

_...Location unknown, exploration team unresponsive._

_...Recommend mission abort, confirm?_

_...Y/N_

_N_

_...Mission continue confirmed._

_Log out._

_...Logging out: Major O'Brien_

* * *

><p>Powers felt like death warmed up, every part of his body hurt with a dull pain and he felt like he was going to fill his gas mask with bile at any moment. Maybe this was what inter-dimensional travel felt like, how was anyone to know?<p>

A groan from a few metres away pulled him out of his stupor, and Powers forced his eyes open to see who had made the noise. Light poured in through the lenses of the gas mask, fiery orange light.

"Sir? You okay?" The voice of Powers' comrade Lance Corporal Minnows crackled over the in-built headset.

"Not really, give me a sit-rep would ya." Powers groaned over the microphone.

"We crashed, Captain."

"Good one, Captain Obvious. Anything else?"

"Water is wet, sir." Powers couldn't help but give a smirk at this.

"I hate you so much."

"Thank you, sir." Powers managed to open his eyes more than a crack, the sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one.

The fiery orange light was indeed fire, more specifically, the flaming kerosene soaked wreckage of their transport helicopter, along with the useless remains of what was once their equipment. What was worse, were the two figures laying motionless in front of Powers, one clad in the same black suit he wore on his own person, the other dressed in the hazard protection suits worn by the scientists accompanying the team. The scientist was on fire to boot.

Powers couldn't help but stare, sure he'd lost team members before, but waking up to a flaming wreckage of your net worth and two of your dead colleagues is the start of a very, very bad day.

A hand pulling on his shoulder caused Powers to jump, and he rolled over to see the forest green form of Minnows, trying to get him onto his feet.

"Come on, sir. Up and at 'em." Minnows groaned as he heaved his superior onto his feet. Powers was pleased to find that both legs worked more or less perfectly and that the dull ache was starting to wear off.

"You okay, Minnows?"

"Affirmative." Minnows nodded, pointing towards a source of daylight, "We should probably head out there, sir."

It was only now that Powers realised they were inside a cave, and not a very big one considering they had managed to fit the chopper in there. Somehow.

"Wait." Powers ordered, gesturing to the downed chopper, "We should check for survivors first."

"Sir, I don't think-"

"Do it. _Now._"

"Yes sir." Minnows walked over to the non-burning body and put two fingers against his neck. After a couple of seconds, he shook his head solemnly. "I think the rest are in there, sir." He suggested, nodding to the fireball of a wreckage at the back of the cave.

"Shit. Shitty shit." Powers sighed, tugging the automatic rifle from its place at his back and turning to the mouth of the cave. "Come on then, let's go."

"Right behind you, sir." Minnows replied, readying his own rifle.

The two men made for the enticingly vibrant daylight before them, both apprehensive of what they would find beyond it. Hopefully something that wouldn't kill them, that would be nice.

It's a good thing the gas masks came with polarised lenses, because that sun was _bright_ especially way up here on this massive mountain.

Powers gasped, he wasn't easily surprised, but the fact that he could see for miles and miles over what seemed to be untamed wilderness was almost unfathomable. Add to that the fact that the mountain they stood on was simply too steep to be feasible, and add to that the sleepy village in the distance and the view was, in essence, unbelievable.

"What now, sir?" Minnows asked, apparently as awestruck as Powers was.

"Not a clue." Was the reply.

The two men simply stared off into the distance for a good few seconds, taking in every inch of the rolling landscapes.

"Hi!" Was the sound that broke the both of them from their daze. Powers snapped his head to the left, to see a truly psychedelic sight. A bright pink, blue eyed, grinning-like-it-was-on-meth, horse.

"Is that... wildlife, sir?" Minnows asked over the comm.

"I'm guessing so, but why did you just say hi like that, Minnows?" Powers replied, locked in a staring contest with the pink equine.

"I didn't." Those were not words Powers wanted to hear.

"Duh! It was me silly!" Powers wanted the Earth to swallow him up at that point.

"Sir... Did, did that horse just..." Minnows stuttered.

"I-I think it did." Powers replied, lost for words.

"Did I what? Ooh, is this a guessing game, uh, did I throw a big party for all my friends yesterday?"

"Uhh, wha-"

"Of course I did!" The equine screamed, bouncing on the spot. "I win, your turn."

"Can I shoot it, sir?" Minnows asked uncertainly, his rifle shifting in his hands.

"No, not yet at least." Powers replied, still having a minor aneurysm affect his motor functions.

"Shoot me? What are you going to shoot me with? Oh, wait! Are you a doctor? You don't need to shoot me, I had my jabs when I was a filly!"

"Sir, it won't stop _talking_." Minnows said through gritted teeth, clearly he was going spare from the incident.

"I know, Minnows. Just keep clam and everything will be-"

"PINKIE!" The shout had emanated from a passage behind the equine, which was followed by five more equally garishly coloured horses galloping upon the trio, the lead one, a unicorn by the looks of it, was shining a pulsating light from its horn.

Both the operatives dropped into a defensive stance out of reflex, guns raised and sights aimed directly at the charging lavender atrocity.

"Sir?" Minnows asked hurriedly.

"Fire only when fired upon." Powers replied to the unasked question.

"Get away from her!" Shouted a turquoise equine to the left of the lead charger.

The lavender equine, now identifiable as what seemed to be a unicorn, disappeared suddenly in a flash of light. Before anyone could fathom what was going on, it reappeared in between the two man team and the pink equine.

Both the men backed up in a hurry, putting some more distance between them and the unicorn. Minnows took the opportunity to shoulder his rifle and pull his pistol from its holster. The unicorn glared daggers at the two and began to fire off demanding questions.

"Who are you? What are you? Did you hurt my friend? Did you have something to do with the dragon earlier?" As the unicorn asked questions without waiting for answers, the rest of the group reached them, three of them going straight into an aggressive looking stance.

The stalemate continued in silence for a few seconds more, before Powers decided to make contact.

"Captain Powers, human, no, I have no idea what you mean." He said uneasily.

"Huh?" The unicorn asked, somewhat dumbfounded by the answers, either that or the fact that this creature could talk.

"Your questions, those were the answers." Powers explained, his confidence growing ever so slightly.

"Oh... Alright then, as long as Pinkie's alright." The unicorn said cautiously.

"I'm not alright, Twilight." The pink horse spoke from behind the unicorn.

"You... You aren't?" The yellow equine, who seemed to be hiding behind the others, asked nervously.

"No silly, I'm half left!" The pink one finished with a grin, eliciting groans from all parties.

"Not exactly what I imagined first contact would be like." Minnows mused, maybe too loudly, as the turquoise one, now identifiable as a pegasus, had evidently heard him.

"First contact?" It asked, "Are you aliens?"

"I suppose we are." Powers answered, focusing his weapon on the pegasus.

"You must be the scouts for an alien invasion!" The pegasus accused dramatically, flaring its wings for effect.

"Not really, it was more of a... crash landing I guess." Minnows replied, trying to defuse the tense situation.

"Did your craft have two spinning blade... things?" The purple unicorn asked inquisitively.

"Y-yes." Powers replied worriedly.

"We saw you appear out of nowhere in the sky, you hit a flying dragon and crashed into the mountain." The unicorn explained.

"A dragon? They don't exist." Powers scoffed, causing his comrade to turn to look at him.

"You just said that to a talking unicorn, sir."

"Oh, uh, yeah." Was all Powers could muster at that point.

"Well now that we know where you came from... sort of anyway," The unicorn began, "why don't you tell us what you're going to do now?"

"We were just working that out when your friend rocked up." Minnows replied, gesturing towards the pink horse with his pistol.

"Did you come to any conclusions?" The unicorn pressed, seeming to become impatient.

"No, we didn't. We're pretty flummoxed on what to do right this minute." Powers answered, lowering his rifle slightly.

"Oh, um, excuse me..." Came a small, timid voice from Minnows' right side. Both men turned their heads to see that the yellow pegasus had somehow sneaked to the side and gotten within a few feet of them both, although it wouldn't meet their eyes for some reason.

"Fluttershy, what are you-" The unicorn began, but the words didn't seem to reach the pegasus, that or she took no notice.

"I'm sorry for prying, but didn't you say you crash landed earlier?" The pegasus asked, seemingly mortally shy about it.

"Yes, yes we did." Powers replied, not sure what to make of the interaction.

"Well, if you don't mind me asking... Are either of you hurt? Because, well, I know a bit of first aid, I take care of a few animals and, um, I might be able to help you, but only if you, you know, want me to."

"I'll live." Powers replied curtly, turning his attention back to the rest of the group.

"Well, now that you mention it," Minnows said, rolling his left arm around in it's socket, "I'm pretty sore around my left shoulder, kinda uncomfortable, y'know?"

The pegasus hovered a foot or so off the ground and slowly made its way over to the operative, who was eyeing her carefully. It gave the area a testing prod, applying a small amount of pressure just under the shoulder joint. This caused Minnows to hiss in pain and flinch slightly.

"Um, if you don't mind, could you take your clothing off please? O-only around there though..." The pegasus motioned the afflicted area, allowing Minnows some time to holster his pistol and begin unclipping the combat vest on the left side. Powers, seeing his comrade lower his weapon, stiffened his stance and once more brought the front of his rifle to point squarely at the group of five in front of him. The horses all seemed to be watching their friend with a mixture of worry and interest.

Minnows lifted the upper part of the jumpsuit and brought his arm out from the sleeve, showing a heavily bruised area just below the shoulder. The pegasus gave a sympathetic hiss.

"Oh you poor thing," Both Minnows and Powers rolled their eyes at this, "I'm afraid you're just going to have to let it heal on its own. I have some painkillers at my home for when the animals hurt themselves, maybe we can get you some?"

Minnows redressed himself carefully, picking the pistol back up and shrugging to his team mate.

"Might as well, friendly relations and all that." Powers sighed, lowering his rifle completely.

"Wait, Fluttershy, you aren't seriously gonna help them out, are you?" The turquoise one asked incredulously.

"Of course I am, I may not have seen one of these creatures before, but I'm not going to let it be in pain if I can help it." The pegasus replied innocently.

"I suppose there are worse ways to start a diplomatic relationship..." The unicorn sighed, motioning with her head at the path they came up from earlier.

"Come on now you two." The pegasus behind the two commandos said softly, herding them, ironically, down the path.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, bet you didn't expect to see this crop up today, did ya? I gotta say though, I'm really sorry for the gap between whatever I did last and this, between work, life and my computer dying on me it's been pretty hard to write these days. Hopefully I'll be able to continue this story with some semblance of regularity.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review.**


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